Q&A with Tina Dam: Exclusive Interview

[sprewellpj]

Tina Dam is a hero. She passionately lives and breathes IDNs. As Senior Director of IDNs at ICANN she has spearheaded the ccTLD Fast Track Process and has tirelessly spoken in favor of IDNs...

http://idnblog.com/2009/12/02/tina-d...log-interview/

[sbe18]

Aaron and Gary...

congrats on getting Tina on the record...

I think there might be a typo in one of your Q's:

*************
Q: You previously said that each country will decide for itself about “[a]liasing or copying everything in the ccTLD zone to the IDN ccTLD zone”. Hypothetically, if Verisign was awarded various IDN ccTLDs, would Verisign similarly get to decide for itself if it can alias everything in the .com TLD zone to various IDN ccTLD zones?

***********************

shouldn't my underline/bold cctld's be gtld's instead ???




thanks.

Steve

[IDNCowboy]

Originally Posted by sprewellpj

Tina Dam is a hero. She passionately lives and breathes IDNs. As Senior Director of IDNs at ICANN she has spearheaded the ccTLD Fast Track Process and has tirelessly spoken in favor of IDNs...

http://idnblog.com/2009/12/02/tina-d...log-interview/

Do you think she meant all domainers are squatters LOL

[jacksonm]

Hero? She's a politician. Over the past several years, she refused to publicly admit that IDNs even exist yet.

The fact is that nobody likes domain speculators, especially not ICANN.

[Drewbert]

Originally Posted by jacksonm

The fact is that nobody likes domain speculators, especially not ICANN.

Damn straight.

The Internet equivalent of HIV positive lepers with syphilis.

[bwhhisc]

"Also noteworthy is that she has reached out to domain investors at IDNForums."

Just for the record, she joined IDNF back in October and November 2007, and provided some good updates. After that she was invited, but chose not to come back again. She is a postive force, and has always been open to email etc with quick response.

Just a note...I think it would be more accurate to rephrase "domain investers" to read "domain investors and developers". There are hundreds of IDN websites up courtesy of IDNF members.

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by bwhhisc

"Also noteworthy is that she has reached out to domain investors at IDNForums."

Just for the record, she joined IDNF back in October and November 2007, and provided some good updates. After that she was invited, but chose not to come back again.

I'm pretty certain that somebody asked her to join IDNF in the first place.

The thing is that she is a beaurocrat and refuses to give non-beaurocratic answers to direct questions. People get angry about that and say it out loud. Impasse.

[bwhhisc]

Originally Posted by jacksonm

I'm pretty certain that somebody asked her to join IDNF in the first place. The thing is that she is a beaurocrat and refuses to give non-beaurocratic answers to direct questions. People get angry about that and say it out loud. Impasse.

Yes, she was invited over by myself and others...I am not sure she knew of the forum before that. Agree on rest of your point.

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by bwhhisc

Yes, she was invited over by myself and others...I am not sure she knew of the forum before that. Agree on rest of your point.

My point is that she is not a hero, has never done anything for us, and isn't about to do anything for us. Kissing her ass, praising her, and calling her beautiful isn't going to work, either. Neither will taking a calm, rational, intelligent approach work with her. As a beaurocrat with big money behind her, she isn't about to open up and let us nobodies build bridges to her, either. That just wouldn't be appropriate...

[yanni]

Originally Posted by jacksonm

My point is that she is not a hero, has never done anything for us, and isn't about to do anything for us. Kissing her ass, praising her, and calling her beautiful isn't going to work, either. Neither will taking a calm, rational, intelligent approach work with her. As a beaurocrat with big money behind her, she isn't about to open up and let us nobodies build bridges to her, either. That just wouldn't be appropriate...

I would go on to add more but there's no point in it.

[Asiaplay]

I think it is great that she agreed to be interviewed and it is shown these topics are on the table at ICANN - also it raises the awareness of your IDNblog site - great!

I feel that it gives people at least a feel, for what ICANN sees at the "status quo" (and that gTLD IDN.IDN is being discussed in detail and not swept under the carpet) - which has more weight really, than a lot of the guessing that has been going on in here and elsewhere

Also, being fair to Tina, she is not in a position to state the outcome of a process which is obviously still under public (and internal) discussions - be it politices or the fact she is not the sole decision maker (and as a decision has not yet "appaently" ,been made).
I think she took the professional approach, that a representitive of any company being interviewed should have taken i.e. she answered the questions well.

Perhaps another question could have been asked i.e. around what she would expect to be the timeframes for gTLD IDN.IDN final process to be determined (might have been a useful add on question).

Cheers, Asiaplay

PS: but I also agree - some solid action and timeframes would be good - as results such as the ccTLD fast-track that is now underway, is the eating that is the proof of the pudding (hopefully ICANN will start to publish some timetables with "fixed" timeframes for gTLD IDN.IDN resolution and exact rollout dates for implimentation of ccTLD's in the root!

[tee1]

Yea, she is a tough one. I use to employ the strategy of telling a "pretty girl" she was smart and a "smart girl" she was pretty. Seemed to work every once in a while not sure what would work with Tina.

Originally Posted by jacksonm

My point is that she is not a hero, has never done anything for us, and isn't about to do anything for us. Kissing her ass, praising her, and calling her beautiful isn't going to work, either. Neither will taking a calm, rational, intelligent approach work with her. As a beaurocrat with big money behind her, she isn't about to open up and let us nobodies build bridges to her, either. That just wouldn't be appropriate...

[sbe18]

the hypothetical ....status quo comment says it all......

verisign gets the same variant rights or buys the IDN gtld's for 'com' that it wants...

185,000 x 50 will not break the bank....
since they will get their price rise request....

the politics is in China.....

CNNIC is going to have to explain to a lot of 60 to 70 yr old policians that
CNNIC is not going to own 'gongsi' in world root, that the current
idn.gonsi names via the hack are about to be idn.gongsi.zhongguo in april....

Tina's navigated the RTL, chinese, russian, arabic, south asian issues as best she could.....

hero.......no.....
evangelist for the cctld route first yes...........

idn gtld was placed in the new gtld process....not her portfolio really...


at least she never called us moonies.....
sometimes silence or avoidance is the strongest clue that you get in speculation/ risk taking....

s/

[sprewellpj]

I definitely hear those who think the praise was overboard. I have a bit of a different perspective:

1. Aliasing

"Q: You previously said that each country will decide for itself about “[a]liasing or copying everything in the ccTLD zone to the IDN ccTLD zone”. Hypothetically, if Verisign was awarded various IDN ccTLDs, would Verisign similarly get to decide for itself if it can alias everything in the .com TLD zone to various IDN ccTLD zones?

TD: Please note that the gTLD Program is still under development and it is not possible to determine whether anything will change in the future as it is finalized. However, the status quo is as you [are] stating."

In other words, I interpret Tina as having the stance that registrars can do what they want in terms of aliasing. More pointedly, if Verisign had a partnership with the Israeli manager of a certain future IDN ccTLD, i.e. קום., then Verisign could decide with its partner on their own to alias all Hebrew IDN.com to קום.IDN. Hands off from ICANN.

2. Domainers as Squatters/Speculators

I don't think that we should be resigned to taking a back seat with ICANN. ICANN has collected millions of dollars in fees from IDNers and we are a key constituency. The idea that we should be written off because we are speculators/squatters is ridiculous. IDNers add tremendous value. First, many of us add value as developers. Second, many of us correspond with natives and are an integral part of the domain supply chain. It has to be made clear to Tina and others that we are not illegal typosquatters but are respectable investors. From our broader conversation, I believe that she understands this, though she is wary of typosquatters.

3. Is Tina a Hero? Has She Done Anything For Us?

I too wish that she and others can get on a podium and extol the virtues of IDN.com. But it is still pretty damn good for her to be producing videos, PowerPoints etc. about IDN ccTLDs, and the process seems to be moving at a nice pace. Her marketing has resulted in a nice spillover of domainers who are now interested in IDNs and who have begun investing in IDN.com.

I guess at the end of the day, whether you think Tina is deserving of praise or not comes down to what you want to focus on. If you want to focus on the barren years in the past where no authority figures were buzzing about IDNs, I understand your disappointment with Tina and ICANN. But if you want to focus on the green shoots right now and the fact that IDNs have been featured everywhere in the last few months from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to DNJournal and ElliotsBlog, then Tina and her ccTLD Fast Track initiative get some of the credit.

[sbe18]

___
More pointedly, if Verisign had a partnership with the Israeli manager of a certain future IDN ccTLD, i.e. קום., then Verisign could decide with its partner on their own to alias all Hebrew IDN.com to ???.IDN. Hands off from ICANN.
_____________


קום

com in Hebrew will be a GTLD not a CCTLD.
There will not be an Israeli manager of קום

as in 555's thread on the JIG and Gomes from Verisign......
it is Verisign's internal issue. Period.


and the 'gongsi' issue as a GTLD issue is still dicey politically..but not technically or legally......

hip hip hurrah...

_________

That is why I asked you at the beginning of the thread if 'cctld' was a typo
on the blog interview post...
...
if not a typo, it was not an accurate phrasing of the GTLD issue as a question.

....
it really doesn't matter relative to IDNF etc........she answered it the right way....


but KOM/ gongsi / קום are in Verisign's hands ......not the CCTLD's or CCNSO's

just based on the 'confusing' theme...

thanks...

[jacksonm]

Originally Posted by yanni

I would go on to add more but there's no point in it.

ἀποθεόω


.

[Rubber Duck]

I think the earlier comment about listening to what is not being said is highly significant. I have always taken the view that Verisign were keeping quiet because things were moving nicely in their direction. They are clearly speaking out now because have consolidated their position in regard to policy they want to speed forward to implementation. It is them saying "we have agreed what we are going to do, now let's just do it". Steering Chuck Gomes into a key role at the critical time was no accident. Some of the guys play a very good game of cards.

[Rubber Duck]

And for all those Numpties out there that are not following the game. Did anyone notice how IDN gTLD will go live just a Verisign are introducing DNSSEC. That means they will be the only one running that technology as IDN.gTLD are introduced. That means all big corporate will run with Verisign. And lets face it the big corporates have shown that for their developed sites a registration fee of $35 per annum is no impediment to them. Frankly, most of them would give a shit if it were $35K a year.

[sbe18]

David...

you are even more on track...

Beckstrom was from the Homeland Security Computer security portfolio...

Gomes' placement is strategic/tactical/political all at the same time....

Again......21st Century diplomacy has a digital component now.

Russia/China/Hindi/Arabic are all getting their cctld's.

now the US IT security side is playing ....and telling the IRT to shove it.

dnssec/ipV6/idn is going full bore all in 2010.